The Discovery of the Relics
In 1840 the monks of Vatopedi were carrying out repairs in the area of the monastery's old cemetery and burial vault. According to the Orthodox Church in America's account, they were renovating the burial vault for the brethren when its roof collapsed and covered one corner; as they cleared away the rubble they were met by a wondrous fragrance.
Uncovering the source, they found a human skeleton clothed in a cloth chiton, in a kneeling posture with its hands folded on the chest, holding an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. The fragrance was so strong that it filled everything around, and accounts note that the other bones nearby did not emit any such scent, marking the discovery as extraordinary.
Sources describe the body as remarkably intact in its posture of prayer: the head still joined to the vertebrae, the limbs and knees crossed, and an icon of the Theotokos — identified in several accounts as the Panagia Vimatarissa (Bematarissa) — resting beneath or upon the hands. That he had made his way among the graves of the departed brethren before dying was taken as a sign that he foresaw his repose and sought to hide himself even in death.
The relics were reverently transferred to the monastery, and a vigil was held on October 5, after which they were brought into the monastery's principal church. This enshrinement is the event the feast commemorates.
The Naming of the Saint
Because nothing was known of the man's identity, the question of what to call him fell to the monastery and the Church. According to one account, the brotherhood together with two visiting hierarchs — Chrysanthos, the former Bishop of Smyrna, and Gregory of Adrianople — unanimously gave him the name 'Eudokimos.' The name derives from the Greek notion of being well-pleasing, chosen because he was judged to have lived in a manner pleasing to God, and because God was pleased to reveal his relics at a time when Christian devotion was neglected under Ottoman rule.
The Orthodox Church in America relates that the Patriarch of Constantinople authorized naming the unknown saint 'Eudokimos,' with the understanding that if the saint objected to the name he would reveal his true name to the monks.
Question of His Identity
Based on his clothing, the saint is estimated to have reposed during the first half of the 17th century, though the Church has not made a final determination of his era or origin. No records document his homeland, his time, or his ascetical practices.
Some time after the discovery, a monk of Vatopedi received a vision in which the saint said his true name was Savva (Savvas). This led to a tradition associating him with Saint Savva of Vatopedi, a figure of the 14th century. Historical records, however, note that that Savva died in Constantinople, which leaves the identification unresolved and in chronological tension with the estimate drawn from his burial clothing. The sources treat the matter as an open question rather than a settled fact.
Relics & Shrines
The relics were transferred from the old cemetery into a church of the monastery; accounts variously name the Katholikon (the main church) and the nearby Church of the Holy Apostles as the place of enshrinement. The relics are described as continuing to emit their fragrance and, in some accounts, as myrrh-gushing.
A monk named Gabriel, healed of severe pain through the saint's intercession, is said to have donated a silver reliquary in thanksgiving.
Miracles & Traditions
Historically Documented: Two healings are recorded in connection with the relics. One monk suffering from consumption (tuberculosis) is said to have recovered through prayer before the relics. A second monk, named Gabriel, was healed of severe pain — described in one account as kidney pain — through the saint's help, and afterward donated a silver reliquary. More broadly, the accounts report that many of the sick invoked the saint and were healed.
Traditional Accounts: The continuing fragrance and, by some accounts, the myrrh-gushing of the relics are held in tradition as a sign of the saint's holiness. The vision in which the saint identified himself as Savva belongs to the same traditional register and is reported by the sources as a pious account rather than an established historical fact.
